I'm not one of those people that is offended by every little thing in a comedy routine, but I thought the presenter at the Oscars went too far.
His joke about Quvenzhané Wallis (to me it was sexualizing a child, not okay) bugged me, and there were quite a few others that bothered me too.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
Seth MacFarlane is well known for making really dark jokes. I knew that going in so I wasn't surprised or offended.
coconut / 8854 posts
Not really, just because that's his sense of humor! Although I am biased, I loooove Family Guy!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@sslm: Ditto. Hosting the Oscars kind of softened him in my eyes and made him more likable.
honeydew / 7589 posts
I'm fine with dark humor, but it seemed a little TOO much. I just thought it was a little tasteless.
I might be the only one who feels that way though... 
coconut / 8854 posts
@sslm: @highwire: I agree! I think he did a great job! Although I'm a person that is not easy offended at all!
cantaloupe / 6800 posts
I wasn't offended but I didn't really find him that funny. I laughed at the "I saw your boobs" song
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
This pretty much sums it up for me:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/02/seth-macfarlane-and-the-oscars-hostile-ugly-sexist-night.html
coconut / 8305 posts
@Arden: We don't usually watch award shows anyways BUT seeing him being the host we for sure didn't.... not just b/c of his sexiest jokes but other reasons as well.
pear / 1812 posts
I am okay with offensive humor. I always have been. But I grew up in a house with a very very dry sense of humor so I am unphased by it. In the end, comedians can't tailer their humor to every persons offenses so you just gotta let some slide off your back and move on. There are some topics I don't find funny no matter how you phrase them, so I just ignore those and move on to other topics. I think he did a good job and it was nice to see something new instead of the normal super lame scripted "jokes" that normally happen.
honeydew / 7589 posts
I think rape, sexualizing children, and domestic abuse is never funny. Sexist jokes are one thing, those are another.
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
I thought some were a bit tacky. I laughed at the boob song but thought it might better be placed as a viral video on you tube rather than the Oscars. I always think of the Oscars as classy and he is anything but. I am sure he got reigned in a ton because he could have been way worse. The looser song at the end I thought was terrible. It just wasn't well done. I don't mind making fun of some of the nominees and attendees, I used to love Billy Crystal and there were still jokes done at the expense of the actors and actresses but I thought some of these went too far and were distasteful.
pineapple / 12802 posts
I think MacFarlane loves to get under peoples skin and he does it very well.
I saw the song and I laughed. He's not to be taken seriously but not everyone will and not every one will love him as with any actor/comedian/entertainer.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
I didn't watch it but from what I read on the interweb today a lot of people were offended/thought it was tacky/in bad taste (especially the joke about the little girl) and overall misogynistic.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
It is exactly what I expected from Seth MacFarlane. In choosing him they were trying to cater to a younger crowd. I will admit, I haven't watched an Oscars in a few years, but was excited to see what MacFarlane was going to do.... so it worked!!
cantaloupe / 6164 posts
I'm not a fan of MacFarlane, and I was nervous about what he might say, but I thought he was relatively tame. I wasn't offended by anything he said, and I thought the boob song was funny (I mean these women DID show their boobs to the world!).
pomegranate / 3160 posts
Nope. It was Seth MacFarlane--you get what you pay for! Going into it, knowing he was hosting, if you aren't into "that" kind of humor, it probably woulda been best to not watch. Was the humor "PC" and "classy?" Probably not. Did anyone expect it to be knowing he was hosting? I'd sure hope not.
pomelo / 5820 posts
I wasn't offended. We watch a lot of Family Guy (which can be really inappropriate at times), so I knew what to expect. I'm also just not easily offended in general.
grapefruit / 4800 posts
I didn't watch the whole thing but for the most part no I wasn't offended. I didn't think the boob song was that great or funny, but overall I was impressed that he had such a stage presence, he's an entertainer for sure.
nectarine / 2132 posts
not at all. life is too serious so much of the time, it's nice just to laugh at inappropriate things some times (in the privacy of my own home, of course! :))
coconut / 8498 posts
I'm not terribly easy to offend when it comes to comedy, and I didn't watch a lot of the show. I honestly thought he was more boring than anything. Why can't Amy Poehler and Tina Fey host every awards show?
clementine / 948 posts
I wasn't offended but thought he was totally awful. I just felt awkward watching him. To be fair, I hate Family Guy
apricot / 444 posts
@Arden: no, I'm with you. I was both bored and offended... a winning combo.
@mrs. Jacks: I thought the NYer post summed it up well, although I was just as peeved by the casual racism.
pomelo / 5000 posts
@Arden: didn't watch, but based on your description, I would have squirmed and been uncomfortable. Not my type of humor.
I saw Borat in the theater, and was over it in the first 10 minutes when a joke was made about the town rapist. Call me a wet blanket, but I'll never find humor in making light of rape. I'm okay with that!
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
I missed the opening so I was already somewhat bored with the Oscars and with Seth when I started watching about 45 minutes in. But then I went back and saw the opening and thought it was funny. I do think Seth and the other jokes went a little too far. Although, I'm not an avid Oscar watcher so I don't know if last year or the last few years was just as bad. I do have a love-hate relationship when it comes to Seth. Sometimes he's funny, sometimes he's not.
honeydew / 7589 posts
@mjane: I agree, the casual racism and jokes about homosexuals also bugged me.
@Happygal: Exactly! I understand that comedy always finds someone to make fun of and usually that's ok, but rape just isn't funny. Ever.
coconut / 8234 posts
I didn't understand why he was the host--but I'm surprised that people are surprised about some of his jokes--he's behind Family Guy and Ted, Family Guy is way over the top. I am a fan of Family Guy but I just didn't see how Seth's humor was going to match up with the Oscars. I thought some of his jokes were over the top, but not out of character.
Of course I can understand someone being offended, but some of the news coverage and comments about the show were as if no one has paid attention to his body of work.
honeydew / 7589 posts
@mrsjazz: I don't like or watch his shows because I'm not a fan of his humor, therefore I wasn't thrilled about him hosting the Oscars.
I did expect some off-color jokes from him, but I guess I thought he'd tone it down a little for the event considering the wide audience and more "classy" vibe of the night. Obviously he didn't, and that disappointed me.
coconut / 8234 posts
@Arden: Yeah, I think that's the thing--he's not classy at all, he's low-brow, which why I didn't understand him as the host. The Oscars are classy.
All that being said, he was still a better host than when James Franco & Anne Hathaway hosted.
clementine / 943 posts
I thought he was hilarious!!
But I'm not easily offended so...
grapefruit / 4400 posts
@Arden: since you don't watch his shows, you probably don't realize that he totally DID tone it down. Sometimes, the stuff he gets away with on "Family Guy" make me cringe, but the Oscars was totally tame compared to that.
I thought he did all right. My favorite joke was the Sound of Music reference.
pomegranate / 3388 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: That's also the article that I agree with!. I know his sense of humor, and I often enjoy Family Guy, but I thought the misogynist jokes last night went to far. It was misplaced humor, especially given the Oscars' reputation as an old boys club.
cantaloupe / 6017 posts
I thought this was a really interesting article. I studied African-American studies and gender studies in college, and consider myself to have a fairly low tolerance for misogyny and racism in humor. But I wasn't offended by MacFarlane's hosting job. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I read this article. I think he was actually making satirical jokes about ignorance, and about some of the misogynistic patterns in popular / entertainment culture.
Unfortunately, I think for a large part of the audience, that level of satire goes over their head & so it just serves to reinforce the ignorance.
pineapple / 12802 posts
@Arden: He did tone it down. He made a comment in an interview that if he toned it down too much he would lose his fan base, and if he didn't tone it down enough he would lose the room. He admitted that he was the wrong guy for it, but they wanted to appeal to a younger crowd and thought he could do it and obviously it benefited him to do so for his career so he went for it!
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